obama touts the new unemployment report telling the crowd it shows that his policies are moving the country forward. the september jobless rate dropping to 7.8%, it's down from 8.1%. doug mckelway live at the white house with more. doug? >> reporter: hey, jon, these new unemployment numbers obviously coming as tremendously welcome news to an obama campaign that is still reeling from what most now agree was a lackluster debate performance last month. in fairfax, virginia, at george mason university, the president departed from his standard stump speech to tout these new numbers. here he is just moments ago. >> but today's news certainly is not an excuse to try to talk down the economy to score a few political points. it's a reminder that this country has come too far to turn back now. [cheers and applause] because of your strength and resilience, the strength and resilience of the american people, we've made too much progress to return to the policies that led to the crisis in the first place. >> reporter: but behind these apparently encouraging unemployment numbers are some very confusing a